Panel-retainino means



L. E. RUEHLMANN.

PANEL RETAINING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9. 1911.

Patented Aug. 12; 1919.

" INVENTOR I 5W ATTORNEY I UNITED STATES PATENT ornron.

LOUIS E. RUEHLMAN'N, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 HALE &KILBURN CORPORATION, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

PANEL-RETAINING MEANS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS E. RUEHLMANN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPanel-Retaining Means, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a construction intended to hold the glass orother panels in position in framed structures, such as doors, sashes,transoms and the like, in such manner that the panel may be quicklypositioned or removed without the necessity of using or removing screwsor the like. More particularly, the inventionis devised to provide meansfor retaining glass panels in the doors of" railway cars, etc. If theglass should break at any time during the opera tion of the car, theglass may be quickly removed, by my invention, and a new panelsubstituted at any point on the road, without removing a considerablenumber of screws, which is ordinarily necessary and involvesconsiderable delay.

My invention attains this end by the provision of a number of retainingstrips which are inserted within flanges or abutments on the frame ofthe door, these strips overlapping the edge portion of the panel andholding the same in position; The strips fit together at their ends soas to hold eachother in position, as by having the top horizontal stripmounted with its ends resting on the tops of the two vertical strips andthe bot tom strip fitting between the lower ends of the vertical strips.When the panel is to be removed, the strips are slid or forced out ofposition, which, in the case just referred to, would require the bottomstrip to first be raised above the ed e of the coacting flange orabutment on the frame member and afterward the vertical strips and topstri similarly slid out of position. To aid in removing the strips, thelatter are provided with openings therein, or shoulders thereon, or thelike, which may be pressed against by a screw-driver or other instrumentto force the strips out of position.

In order that a clearer understanding of my invention may be had,attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawings forming partof this application and illustrating certain embodiments of myinvention. In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of adoor equipped with my lnvention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged front eleyatlonof a glass panel in the door with ad acent parts, partly broken away andpartly shown in section, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view takenon line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the door 1 is illustrated as provided withone or more glass panels, such as that shown at 2, and

the usual rails 3, 4 and 5, stiles 6- and 7 and the vertical framemember 8 separating the two upper glass panels. The door illustrated 1sformed of steel in which the different parts are pressed to shape,although the invention may obviously be applied to wooden or otherdoors. The frame members surr'oundmg the opening for a glass panel mayall be of the same construction and are illustrated sufliciently by thesection taken through a stile, as shown in Fig. 3.

As there illustrated, the stile or other frame member 7 may be of usualconstruction and is shown as having a flange 9 at its .inner edge, whichis bent inwardly of the opening for the panel, as shown at 10, andthence bent back at 11, parallel to flange 10, around a flange 12, whichextends inwardly of the opening from the flange 13, which, together withthe flange 9, forms the inner edge of the frame member. Flanges '10, 11and 12 may be positioned midway of the depth of the frame member 7, orat any other convenient point, and form what may be termed a rearabutment or flange.

A forward inwardly directed flange or abutment must also be provided toextend inwardly of the opening a less distance than the rear abutment,as is illustrated at 14.

This may readily be accomplished by providing a steel channel member 15,which is secured to the edge flange 91of each frame member, with itsforward flange 14 referably in alinement with the front sur ace of framemember 7,'and its rear flange 16 contacting against the flange 10 of therear abutment. The glass pane 2 is illustrated as having the usualrubber channel 17 cemented to the edge of the glass to provide a properseat for the glass. The forward flanges or abutments 14 are suflicientlyshort to enable the glass panels, together with their rubber channels17, to be pushed past the inner edges of the same to mount the panelwith its rear surface, adjacent its edges, contacting against the innerportions of flange 10 of the rear abutment, as shown.

It will be observed that a space is left between the edges of the glasspanel and the inner surfaces of the frame members surrounding theopening. This space may be filled by wooden filler strips 18, orequivalent construction the inner surfaces of which provide seatsagainst which the edges of the glass panel contact. The front surfacesof the fillers 18 also act as abutments or frictional engaging means forthe glass retaining strips, as will be described.

The retaining strips, in the case of a rectangular panel, asillustrated, comprise a pair of vertical strips 19, 19., a tophorizontal strip 20 and a bottom horizontal strip 21. Each strip isinserted between a forward flange or abutment 14c and the filler 18, theretaining strip being sufficiently wide to extend beyond the forwardabutment 1 1 and overlap and press against the front surface of theglass panel, considering the rubber channel 17 as part of the glasspanel. The front abutment 14 of the frame member may be bent back uponitself, as illustrated, for the sake of stiffness. The dimensions of theparts are so chosen that each retaining stri i will fit into the spacebetween the forwars abutment and the filling stri 18 with a forced fit,and will press against the front surface of the panel sufliciently toclamp the panel between the strip and the rear abutment 10. The fillingstrip 18 provides a hearing or abutment for the retaining strip, asstated, to hold the retaining strip in alinement with the panel, but itis obvious that equivalent means may be used for this purpose.

Means should be provided upon each retaining strip, so that. the samemay be engaged by a suitable instrument and forced out of position.Suitable shoulders or abutments for this purpose may be provided byforming slots 22 in the retaining strips, these slots being a slightdistance beyond the inner edges of the forward abutments 14 inwardly ofthe opening for the panel. It is, therefore, obvious that the point of ascrewdriver or the like may be inserted in the slots 22 and pressureexerted on the screw-driver, as by pivoting the same about the inneredge of abutment 14k, to push the retaining strips inwardly of theopening out of engagement with the forward abutments and filling strips18.

In order that the retaining strips may be positively held in position,it is desirable to mount the top strip 20 with its end portions restingon the tops of the vertical strips 19, and the bottom strip 21 with itsends fitting between the bottom portions of the vertical strips 19. Inmounting the strips in position, it is, therefore, necessary to firstinsert the top horizontal strip 20, and then the two vertical strips andlastly the bottom strip 21. Strip 20 is prevented from falling out bystrips 19, and the latter are held in position by strip 21. Strip 21 isheld in position by gravity and also by friction with the adjoiningmembers. Preferably, the top strip 20 and vertical strips 19 are beveledat their meeting ends, as shown, so that strip 20 will hold strips 19 in,position at the top, as well as strips 19 holding strip 20 in position.Therefore, to mount strips 19 in position, their upper beveled ends arefirst inserted under the beveled ends of strip 20, and strips 19 thenswung around into the vertical osition, which may be aided by roundingthe bottom ends of strips 19 as shown.

When it is desired to remove a panel and to insert a new one, as in caseof breakage of the glass, the bottom strip 21 must first be removed bydriving the same upwardly until it is clear of the front abutment of theadjacent frame member 41, after which the vertical strips 19 are forcedlaterally inwardly of the opening and removed, after which the top strip20 may be similarly forced downwardly and removed.

It is obvious that the retaining strips might be positioned between therear surface of the panel and the rear abutment as well as between thefront surface of the glass and the forward abutment. For conveniece, theabutments or flanges engaged by the retaining strips will be referred toin the claims as the forward abutments or flanges. It is also obviousthat my invention is not limited to the exact details of construction described and illustrated, but that reasonable equivalents of the same areincluded within the scope of the invention, as shown by the accompanyingclaims.

What I claim is z- 1. The combination of a frame surrounding arectangular opening, having forward and rear inwardly directed abutmentsabout the opening, the inner portion of the rear abutments being adaptedto be contacted by the rear edge portions of a glass panel and theforward abutments being shorter in length than the rear abutments,fillers positioned between the forward and rear abutments and the edgeof a glass panel, and removable retaining strips each positioned betweenthe forward abutment and filler on one side so as to extend inwardlybeyond the abutment to overlap and press upon the front of a glasspanel, the top horizontal strip having its ends rest on the two verticalstrips and the bottom horizontal strip and having squared ends fittingbetween the lower end portions of the vertical strips, said stripshaving abutment means whereby the same may be engaged by an instrumentand slid out of glass-retaining position.

2. The combination of a frame surrounding a rectangular verticalopening, having forward and rear inwardly directed abutments about theopening, and seats for the edge of a panel between the abutments, therear abutments extending inwardly of the opening beyond the seats andbeyond the inner edges of the forward abutments, and removable retainingstrips inserted between said seats and forward abutments so as to extendbeyond the inner edges of said abutments to overlap and contact againstthe front edge portions of a panel when the latter is positioned againstsaid seats with its rear edge portions against the rear abutments, thetop horizontal strip having its ends rest on the two vertical strips andthe bottom horizontal strip having squared ends fitting between thelower end portions of the vertical strips, said strips having openingstherein adapted to be engaged by an instrument so that the strips may beslid out of position.

This specification signed and witnessed this 7th day of November, 1917.

LOUIS E. RUEHLMANN.

Witnesses:

H. B. NORTH, WILLIAM J. EARNSHAW.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

